Nana hopes its sleep-tracking mat for babies will be just as useful for adults

As sleep tracking system Nana expands outside of its home market of Singapore, it’s also looking to diversify its user base.

Nana, a smart mat that was originally marketed as a safe and unobtrusive sleep tracker for babies, is now targeting a totally new segment: adults.

Founder Mah Chern Wern says the startup received feedback from many individuals as they prepared to launch it in Indonesia and the Philippines. Those people wanted to use the gadget for themselves and even for the elderly.

“This is why we decided to expand the product for use by everyone from infancy upwards. After all, there’s a similar occurrence of sleep-related issues in both adults and children,” he says.

This means Nana will be competing with the deluge of sleep tracking devices we’ve seen come out as experts warn of an epidemic of insufficient sleep among adults. Lack of sleep has been linked to the onset of many illnesses such as obesity, diabetes, and cancer – not to mention vehicle crashes, industrial accidents, and other occupational errors.

Up against fitness trackers

Nana is made up several components: first is a sensor mat slipped under the mattress that can detect movement, breathing, and heart rate during sleep. A wifi-enabled communicator unit placed next to the bed sends out sleep data to a cloud-based analytics engine that interprets this data and gives personalized advice on how to improve sleep. This data and advice can be viewed on Nana’s app, available on both iOS and Android.

The startup initially positioned itself as a solution for parents who want to go beyond the regular audio or video monitors in keeping track of their babies’ sleep patterns.

If before its rivals only included Sproutling, Owlet, Angelcare, and Monbaby, it now counts as competitors other mat sleep monitoring systems like Beddit and Withings Aura. In terms of the general market, smart wearables from Fitbit and Jawbone are also contenders.

Sleeping soundly

Though it bears strong similarities to other brands, Nana claims to be more intricate in recording and analyzing sleep data.

“Nana is the only contactless sleep sensor that can give you second-by-second analysis of your heart rate and breathing for highly accurate sleep monitoring,” says Mah.

Nana’s mat uses fiber-optic microbending sensors. It is unbelievably thin, just fractions of an inch, yet Mah claims it is sensitive enough to pick up breathing and heart beat through almost any mattress – regardless of thickness.